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Shahbaz Ahmed single-handedly outclassed defending champions Tamil Nadu with his all-round show at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on October 16. Shahbaz, who recently made his T20I debut, helped Bengal register a 43-run win even after they posted a par total of 164/6 on the board.
Bengal skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran won the toss and opted to bat first. They lost opener Ranjot Singh early in the innings. Easwaran played the anchor role whereas Sudip Gharami played a cameo of 14-ball 27 in the 64-run partnership for the second wicket. Washington Sundar got the breakthrough and followed it up with the wicket of Abishek Porel in the eighth over. Easwaran could not accelerate and lost his wicket to Varun Chakaravarthy in the 12th over.
Shahbaz came in to bat in the 13th over. Ritwik Chowdhury could not find boundaries and rotated the strike. Shahbaz took the more attacking approach and smashed 42 runs from 27 deliveries including three fours and two sixes. The southpaw's unbeaten 42 helped Bengal post a fighting total of 164/6 on the board.
Tamil Nadu's run chase did not get off to an ideal start as they lost their opener N Jagadeesan in the second over. Sai Sudharsan and Baba Aparajith struggled to keep up with the rising required run rate. Shahbaz struck twice in the ninth over with the wicket of skipper Aparajith (16) and Sanjay Yadav (0).
As pressure started to get better of Tamil Nadu middle-order Shahbaz proved that match-ups are overrated with the wicket of left-handed batter Sundar. Not only did he take three crucial wickets but conceded just 13 runs from the four overs he bowled.
Tamil Nadu opener Sudharsan did not have ideal support from the other end as wickets kept tumbling in the middle order. His knock came to an end in the 17th over of the run chase. He scored 64 runs from 48 deliveries including four fours and two sixes.
